Papers by Wietske Prummel
Environmental Archaeology, 2024
185 pairs of δ 13 C and δ 15 N values for aurochs, cattle and sheep bones from the northern Nethe... more 185 pairs of δ 13 C and δ 15 N values for aurochs, cattle and sheep bones from the northern Netherlands were studied to establish the influence of salt marsh grazing on bone δ 13 C and δ 15 N values. The observed values proved significantly increased compared to livestock that grazed inland. The δ 13 C and δ 15 N values of animals grazing former salt marshes were significantly less increased than those grazing the unembanked salt marsh. Absent regular salt marsh flooding may explain the reduced δ 13 C increase in bones of animals grazing there. The δ 15 N values of ruminants grazing the embanked salt marshes continued to be increased, presumably due to persisting saline water at shallow depths. The δ 13 C values of the salt marsh grazing ruminants correspond with a δ 13 C increase of 5‰ compared to eleven modern salt marsh plants from Schiermonnikoog studied in this paper. The δ 15 N values of the eleven Schiermonnikoog salt marsh plants proved variable, on average too low to explain the observed 3.5‰ increase in δ 15 N values. This suggests that vegetation δ 15 N values cannot be the only cause of the high δ 15 N values observed in salt marsh ruminants. Other processes may be responsible for the high δ 15 N values of salt marsh grazing ruminants as well.
Environmental Archaeology, 2024
185 pairs of δ 13 C and δ 15 N values for aurochs, cattle and sheep bones from the northern Nethe... more 185 pairs of δ 13 C and δ 15 N values for aurochs, cattle and sheep bones from the northern Netherlands were studied to establish the influence of salt marsh grazing on bone δ 13 C and δ 15 N values. The observed values proved significantly increased compared to livestock that grazed inland. The δ 13 C and δ 15 N values of animals grazing former salt marshes were significantly less increased than those grazing the unembanked salt marsh. Absent regular salt marsh flooding may explain the reduced δ 13 C increase in bones of animals grazing there. The δ 15 N values of ruminants grazing the embanked salt marshes continued to be increased, presumably due to persisting saline water at shallow depths. The δ 13 C values of the salt marsh grazing ruminants correspond with a δ 13 C increase of 5‰ compared to eleven modern salt marsh plants from Schiermonnikoog studied in this paper. The δ 15 N values of the eleven Schiermonnikoog salt marsh plants proved variable, on average too low to explain the observed 3.5‰ increase in δ 15 N values. This suggests that vegetation δ 15 N values cannot be the only cause of the high δ 15 N values observed in salt marsh ruminants. Other processes may be responsible for the high δ 15 N values of salt marsh grazing ruminants as well.
Cranium, 2017
Voor deze studie werden fossiele skeletresten van vogels verzameld aan de Delflandse Kust (Scheve... more Voor deze studie werden fossiele skeletresten van vogels verzameld aan de Delflandse Kust (Scheveningen tot en met Hoek van Holland, inclusief de Zandmotor) bestudeerd. De Delflandse Kust werd de afgelopen decennia vaak gesuppleerd met zand afkomstig uit het Eurogeulgebied; de Zandmotor werd in 2011 opgeleverd na een grote suppletie. Er werden ten minste 32 vogelsoorten aangetroffen. Resten van eenden en ganzen zijn het talrijkst. De resten van het moerassneeuwhoen Lagopus lagopus (Linnaeus, 1758) en de 'uitgestorven gans' Anser cf. djuktaiensis Zelenkov & Kurochkin, 2014 kunnen in het Weichselien geplaatst worden, terwijl van de meeste andere soorten (waaronder oehoe Bubo bubo (Linnaeus, 1758), fuut Podiceps sp. en meerkoet Fulica atra Linnaeus, 1758) de precieze ouderdom onduidelijk is, maar waarschijnlijk ligt in het Weichselien tot vroege Holoceen. Drie pogingen tot 14C-dateren van de resten leverden helaas geen resultaat door onvoldoende preservatie van het collageen. Het materiaal blijkt soortenrijk en divers en het is waarschijnlijk dat er nog veel meer soorten te vinden zijn. De avifauna levert nieuwe gegevens voor reconstructie van de verdwenen laat-pleistocene en vroeg-holocene ecosystemen van het Eurogeulgebied. Tevens worden enkele nieuwe resultaten van het strand van de Maasvlakte, het strand van Maasvlakte 2, het strand van Schouwen, De Kaloot en opgevist materiaal uit het Eurogeulgebied gegeven en eerdere meldingen samengevat.
Nieuwe Drentse Volksalmanak. Jaarboek voor geschiedenis en archeologie, 2023
Hendrikus van der Laan, Stone Age amateur archaeologist as a refuser of military service
Hendriku... more Hendrikus van der Laan, Stone Age amateur archaeologist as a refuser of military service
Hendrikus Hemmo van der Laan (1925-2020) collected Stone Age artefacts from his very youth with his father in southwest Drenthe. He worked as a refuser of military service in the heath and peat mining of southern Drenthe 1947-1951. During this digging he discovered two flint sites: a late palaeolithic (Hamburg) site at Geesbrug and a mesolithic site at Zwinderscheveld. He recognized the types of flints and the periods from which the flints originate, but never published his results. His widow donated his flints together with the documentation about the sites to the Noordelijk Archeologisch Depot (Archaeological Depot for the Dutch provinces Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe). The flints and the documentation are made available for future research in this paper.
The Dutch province of Drenthe is thanks to the collections of many amateur archaeologists such as Hendrikus van der Laan, one of the best-researched areas of the Netherlands with regard to the Stone Age. Since the beginning of the last century, Drenthe is intensively searched for processed flints. This provided a detailed picture of the use of the landscape during the Stone Age. The collection of Hendrikus van der Laan is one of the many puzzle pieces that enable archaeologists to reconstruct the lifestyles of the oldest inhabitants of Drenthe. The Geesbrug collection is a well-described assemblage of finds from the rare Hamburg culture. The Zwinderscheveld collection is distinguished by an accurate find administration that approximates the excavation strategies of the University of Groningen from the same period. This makes the collection interesting not only from the material itself, but also from a historical point of view.
Antiquity, 2011
This book offers, in 22 chapters written by 21 authors,
the current knowledge on a wide range of ... more This book offers, in 22 chapters written by 21 authors,
the current knowledge on a wide range of mammal,
bird, fish, mollusc and insect species which inhabited
Britain in the last 11 000 years.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Jul 1, 1999
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 1998
(p. 92) The study made of a small sample of fauna remains, found during an excavation just south ... more (p. 92) The study made of a small sample of fauna remains, found during an excavation just south of Schagen (fig. 1), prompted an investigation as to whether the information available on several types of environment prevailing in the Netherlands in former times can give an explanation for the composition of livestock in settlements situated in these environments, as evident from excavated faunal remains.The actual description of the faunal remains from Schagen will appear elsewhere (Clason & Prummel, in press).
Whale bones are generally found in terp excavations in the provinces of Friesland and Groningen o... more Whale bones are generally found in terp excavations in the provinces of Friesland and Groningen of the Netherlands. Chop and cut marks show that the meat and fat were used and that many whale bones were used as chopping-blocks or to make bone tools. Seven whale species are represented: sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), killer whale (Orcinus orca), right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus) and harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena).
The paper presents the the pottery (Vasso Rondiri) and the faunal remains (Vasiliki Tzevelekidi) ... more The paper presents the the pottery (Vasso Rondiri) and the faunal remains (Vasiliki Tzevelekidi) of a small excavation at the neolithic site Kamára in Soúrpi Plain in Thessaly, as well as the results of the survey of the complete, large site (Reinder Reinders): ceramics (Mies Wijnen), chipped-stone, ground-stone tools (both Lia Karimali) and animal remains (Wietske Prummel). A pig and a cattle bone from the survey were radiocarbon dated; the results show a Middle Neolithic date for the site. Pig and cattle are better represented in the survey than in the excavation material, in which sheep and sheep/goat strongly preponderate. Wild mammals are only represented by red deer. Seven species of molluscs are represented.
This article presents the results of an extensive coring programme and a test excavation at Wetsi... more This article presents the results of an extensive coring programme and a test excavation at Wetsingermaar (province of Groningen, the Netherlands). The corings made clear that the archaeological site spans over 1.5 ha and islocated on the waterfront of a submerged Pleistocene ridge. The test excavation yielded ceramics, flints and other stone material, and archaeozoological remains. On the basis of its cultural remains it is concluded that Wetsingermaar constitutes an early site of the Funnel Beaker Culture ( Trichterbecherkultur , TRB), predating the Horizon 1 of Drouwen TRB as defined by Brindley (1988b). This early phase is termed pre-Drouwen TRB (cf. Bakker, 1979: 115). The flint industry is similar to younger TRB assemblages, while the ceramic and archaeozoological evidence is difficult to interpret as a result of the fragmentary condition of the finds and the near absence of contemporaneous sites.
Palaeohistoria 37/38 …, 1997
... skeletal remains were seldom retrieved, so that little is known about the gender, age and ...... more ... skeletal remains were seldom retrieved, so that little is known about the gender, age and ... 1920: plate II) already pointed to the existence of cremation features other than urned burials. In this new investigation of an early medieval cemetery, such aspects might be given closer ...
Botanische resten aangetroffen in de overgangsperiode van het Eemien naar het Weichselien (Gr). M... more Botanische resten aangetroffen in de overgangsperiode van het Eemien naar het Weichselien (Gr). M.J.L.TH. NIEKUS, L. JOHANSEN & D. STAPERT Een vuistbijl en andere nieuwe middenpaleolithische vondsten rond het glaciale bekken van Steenwijk (Dr. en Ov.
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Papers by Wietske Prummel
Hendrikus Hemmo van der Laan (1925-2020) collected Stone Age artefacts from his very youth with his father in southwest Drenthe. He worked as a refuser of military service in the heath and peat mining of southern Drenthe 1947-1951. During this digging he discovered two flint sites: a late palaeolithic (Hamburg) site at Geesbrug and a mesolithic site at Zwinderscheveld. He recognized the types of flints and the periods from which the flints originate, but never published his results. His widow donated his flints together with the documentation about the sites to the Noordelijk Archeologisch Depot (Archaeological Depot for the Dutch provinces Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe). The flints and the documentation are made available for future research in this paper.
The Dutch province of Drenthe is thanks to the collections of many amateur archaeologists such as Hendrikus van der Laan, one of the best-researched areas of the Netherlands with regard to the Stone Age. Since the beginning of the last century, Drenthe is intensively searched for processed flints. This provided a detailed picture of the use of the landscape during the Stone Age. The collection of Hendrikus van der Laan is one of the many puzzle pieces that enable archaeologists to reconstruct the lifestyles of the oldest inhabitants of Drenthe. The Geesbrug collection is a well-described assemblage of finds from the rare Hamburg culture. The Zwinderscheveld collection is distinguished by an accurate find administration that approximates the excavation strategies of the University of Groningen from the same period. This makes the collection interesting not only from the material itself, but also from a historical point of view.
the current knowledge on a wide range of mammal,
bird, fish, mollusc and insect species which inhabited
Britain in the last 11 000 years.
Hendrikus Hemmo van der Laan (1925-2020) collected Stone Age artefacts from his very youth with his father in southwest Drenthe. He worked as a refuser of military service in the heath and peat mining of southern Drenthe 1947-1951. During this digging he discovered two flint sites: a late palaeolithic (Hamburg) site at Geesbrug and a mesolithic site at Zwinderscheveld. He recognized the types of flints and the periods from which the flints originate, but never published his results. His widow donated his flints together with the documentation about the sites to the Noordelijk Archeologisch Depot (Archaeological Depot for the Dutch provinces Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe). The flints and the documentation are made available for future research in this paper.
The Dutch province of Drenthe is thanks to the collections of many amateur archaeologists such as Hendrikus van der Laan, one of the best-researched areas of the Netherlands with regard to the Stone Age. Since the beginning of the last century, Drenthe is intensively searched for processed flints. This provided a detailed picture of the use of the landscape during the Stone Age. The collection of Hendrikus van der Laan is one of the many puzzle pieces that enable archaeologists to reconstruct the lifestyles of the oldest inhabitants of Drenthe. The Geesbrug collection is a well-described assemblage of finds from the rare Hamburg culture. The Zwinderscheveld collection is distinguished by an accurate find administration that approximates the excavation strategies of the University of Groningen from the same period. This makes the collection interesting not only from the material itself, but also from a historical point of view.
the current knowledge on a wide range of mammal,
bird, fish, mollusc and insect species which inhabited
Britain in the last 11 000 years.
Stone tools are an important area of research in archeology. Very often they are the only artefacts that can tell us something about the people who lived shortly after the Ice Age. Nowadays we can use lists and figures of particular types of tools which can be related to specific cultures of the Stone Age. But this has not always been the case. Amateur archeologists have played an important role in recognizing the existence of mesolithic and late-palaeolithic cultures in the Netherlands. Some of them were real pioneers and are related to the discovery of cultures.
Since 2003 the Noordelijk Archeologisch Depot (NAD), Nuis, is the official depot for archeological finds in the northern Netherlands. Many collections of stone tools, mostly flint artefacts, were brought together there. Amateur archeologists play an important role in identifying and describing these artefacts.
There are different push and pull factors for amateur archaeologists to start collecting stone artefacts. A good example was Piet Houtsma (1915-2006) from Waskemeer (province of Friesland, Netherlands). His career as an amateur archaeologist started in 1947, when he found his first flint artefact not far from his home. It was identified as an artefact from the Hamburg Culture, a so called krombeksteker (burin-bec). The artefact was put away by Houtsma in a chest of 13 drawers, a little cabinet, which was later on filled with many other flint artefacts from all the sites where he found material from the Stone Age. When writing this article, this artefact was identified as a Creswell point. That is remarkable, because it must have been the first find of the Creswell culture in the province of Friesland. It is not surprising that he did not recognize this artefact as a Creswell point. At the time there were only some finds of this culture known from the province of Drenthe.
Houtsma was a secondary-school teacher, but in his spare time he attended lectures in archeology at the Biological-Archaeological Institute at the University of Groningen (BAI) and participated in official excavations in Friesland in the period 1951-1966. The excavation of the important Creswell site of Siegerswoude in 1962 impressed him most. He may be considered an important amateur archeologist in the province of Friesland. His inheritance consists of a collection of well documented flint artefacts of several Stone Age cultures, a beautiful Creswell point and ... a beautiful little cabinet.
Archeologische sporen rondom een terpnederzetting (Johan Nicolay & Gilles de Langen (redactie))
mankind.
Beavers, the neighbours of the Neolithic Swifterbant
people in Oostelijk Flevoland (Netherlands) influenced
the local environment by their digging,
gnawing and building activities. Large ponds were
created by damming creaks and these bodies of
water proved to be profitable. Not just for themselves
but also for humans because fish, waterfowl
and otters prospered there. The felled wood that
the beavers left behind was useful for humans and
the animals were killed for their thick fur, flesh and
castoreum. The beavers made the local environment
to a paradise for mankind and themselves.
as sieved material. Although conditions for the preservation of unburnt bone are unfavourable in the site’s sandy soil, some
unburnt bone was preserved in deeper features such as sunken huts, pits and wells. Nevertheless, 49% of the hand-collected
material and 99% of the sieved material are burnt bones, which in sandy soils are preserved much better than unburnt
bone.
Cattle, sheep and/or goat, pig, horse and dog were identified for most of the phases covered by the bone material, that is from
the Iron Age up to and including the Carolingian period. Cattle and sheep were the best-represented species. Pigs were quite
common (9% – 25%) with forests in the vicinity of the site. Horses became more numerous in the Merovingian period. An
unburnt red-deer antler fragment and bones of freshwater fishes are the only evidence relating to the wild fauna.
Animals played a part also in ritual at De Bloemert. Cattle skulls were deposited in pits, including ‘water pits’, and perhaps
even a well during the Roman period and the Migration period. Cremated bones of unidentified animals were found in a
human cremation grave of the Migration period. Finally, cremated remains of cattle, pigs, sheep and/or goats and dogs were
deposited in a probably ritual pit of the Carolingian period.
A total of 1,197 animal remains were recovered during the excavations (n = 720) and the survey (n =
477) in the peatland of Matsloot-Roderwolde in De Onlanden. Animal remains were recovered at 20
out of the 62 farmstead sites where test-trenches were dug. The local environment in the polder was
a peaty soil, not very conducive to bone preservation. Nevertheless, the animal remains are fairly
well-preserved. Most animal remains were recovered by hand, a smaller part by wet-sieving in the
field. They represent three phases of habitation: phase 1(-2): late 10th to (early) 12th century (n = 1);
phases 2-3: 12th-14th century (n = 229); and phase 4: late 15th-18th/19th century (n = 277). More than
half of the animal remains are undated (n = 690). Many bone fragments are burnt or calcined, owing
to house fires and the burning of waste.
Cattle was by far the most important livestock species during phases 2-3 (74% of the identified remains
of domestic mammals) and phase 4 (95%). Sheep and perhaps goats (although no goat bones
were demonstrated) were reared during phases 2-3 (14%), but probably not during phase 4. Possible
reasons why sheep husbandry came to an end after the late-medieval period are that the area became
too wet and therefore less suitable for rearing sheep, or that wool and woollen cloth could now
be bought easily in the nearby town of Groningen. Pigs were kept in small numbers in phases 2-3 and
4 (5 and 3%, respectively). Donkey was demonstrated only for the Early Modern period. Dogs were
kept, as bite marks on different bones indicate. Bones of cats and poultry are lacking, as are bones of
wild mammals, birds and fish – even in the sieved samples.
The kill-off patterns for cattle demonstrate that cattle were kept for meat, milk and hides in both
the late-medieval and Early Modern periods. Although no items of pottery or wood provide proof,
butter- and cheese-making probably were important activities. Horses were used for riding and traction;
at death they were skinned. Sheep would have been kept for meat and wool, and pigs for meat.
Some ceramic spindle whorls and loom weights are proof of small-scale wool (or flax) processing at
the farmsteads.
A comparison of the animal remains with those from contemporaneous rural sites in (clay-on-)
peat and clay areas in the northern and western Netherlands shows that livestock composition at
the time could be quite variable, depending on the local environment and economic factors. In the
Matsloot-Roderwolder area the focus was clearly on cattle breeding; cheese, butter and hides were
probably sold at markets in the nearby city of Groningen.
They are: 1) falconry devices, 2) the bones of hawks, 3) a preponderance of female goshawks and
sparrowhawks and 4) bones of the birds and mammals that were captured with trained birds of prey.
Bones of hawks in graves are certain evidence that falconry was practiced. A combination of several of
the four criteria is recommended to decide that falconry was practiced at a settlement. Falconry was
practiced in Central and Western Europe and in eastern Sweden since the 6th century. Goshawks and
sparrowhawks were the most important hawks until at least the 16th century.Falconry with peregrines
became more important in the 15th–16th centuries, especially among the high nobility. This is at least
clear for the Netherlands. Historical records make it clear that many of these peregrines, but also goshawks,
were imported from Norway. Bones demonstrate that falconry with goshawks was practiced at
the 15th–16th century castle of Sint Maartensdijk on the island of Tholen (the Netherlands). Historical
records state that the owner of the castle, Frank II van Borselen, imported falcons (peregrines?) and
goshawks from Norway in the second half of the 15th century. A worked reindeer antler and bones
of fish species only living in northern waters confirm the connection of the castle with Norway.The
peregrines found at the 15th–17th century falcon house of the Counts of Hainaut, Holland, and Zeeland,
and later of the stadtholders (Dutch: stadhouders) of Holland and other Dutch provinces in The
Hague (the Netherlands), were most probably also imported from Norway. 17th century Norwegian
records state that falconers employed by the Princes of Orange, then the stadtholders, captured falcons
in Norway and brought them to Holland.
layers: (1) falconry devices, (2) bones of hawks, (3) the sexes of the hawks, and (4) the bones of
prey animals. Falconry was known in continental Europe from about 500 AD. Archaeozoological evidence
makes clear that falconry was practised at strongholds of Slavonic peoples from the 6th century
AD, at trading and other sites in northern Europe from the 8th century, at strongholds in Germany
from the 9th century, at high status sites in France from the 7th century, and at castles, strongholds and
towns in the Netherlands from the 11th century. The low flight, with goshawk and sparrowhawk on
large and small birds and mammals, was the most common type of falconry before the 13th century
AD. The high flight, with peregrines on large birds, became vogue in the 13th century AD.
The title of the book is: Swifterbant, Pionieren in Flevoland 6500 jaar geleden. Editors: W. Prummel, J.P. de Roever & A.F.L. van Holk
whale (Eschrichtius robustus)
from Wijster (Dr.)
The animal remains from the native Romanperiod
village at Wijster (province of Drenthe)
were published by Dr Anneke T. Clason in
1967. Most of the remains are poorly preserved
cattle and horse bone fragments. About half of
them come from animal graves in farmyards or
along village roads, which most probably are
ritual deposits. At the beginning of 2018, Ernst
Taayke found among the material from a grave
of a horse and a cow, animal grave 12, an
unidentified bone, find number 1266, that he
did not recognize. The bone was found to be a
bulla tympanica of a grey whale (Eschrichtius
robustus), a very rare find. Animal grave 12
was a ritual deposit in the yard of farmhouse
77, dated 3rd/4th century AD. In this paper we
discuss how we established the whale species,
the possible origin of the whale bone and the
meaning of the whale bone in this ritual deposit
of a horse and a cow.
German terps
Eighteen (Common) crane (Grus grus) bones have been found
in Dutch and German terpen. Twelve are dated: to the Iron Age,
the Roman period and the Middle Ages; six are undated. The
bones are two radii, three ulnae, two tibiotarsi, a fibula and
ten tarsometatarsi. This distribution is most probably caused
by the higher stability of these bones in comparison with other
crane bones. Six crane bones, all from the Dutch province of
Friesland, had been worked into bone tools: five needles and
an awl. A crane bone from the German site Feddersen Wierde
shows traces of bone working as well.
Historical data inform us that the crane used to breed in
the Netherlands until the 17th century AD. From that period
until 2001 it was only a migrant species of the Netherlands. It
would halt in the larger peatland areas during its autumn migration.
The crane has again been breeding in the Netherlands since 2001, be it in small numbers. Increasing numbers of cranes
stop at halting-places in the Netherlands during the autumn migration.
The crane all the time continued to breed in Lower Saxony
and Schleswig-Holstein, but showed a heavy decline. The numbers
of breeding cranes have been increasing in these parts of
Germany since the 1990s, also in the western parts of these federal
states. Here too, increasing numbers of cranes stop over at
halting-places during the autumn migration.
Cranes occurred in the terp region during the Iron Age,
Roman Period and the Middle Ages in larger numbers than they
do nowadays. They visited the arable fields and the meadows in
the salt marsh after breeding in the large peatbogs bordering the
terp area. They also halted in the terp area during their autumn
migration. Terp dwellers captured a crane every now and then,
consumed the meat, made needles and awls from the bones and
maybe used the feathers for ornamental purposes.
(province of Drenthe) A small pit in the tiled floor of the basement kitchen of the manor house of the Ubbena family in the village of Oudemolen (Drenthe), the Netherlands, was used to absorb the scrubbing water from cleaning the floor. The family possessed
the grain-milling water mill in the river Oudemolensche Diep next to the manor house. A sieved soil sample from the pit yielded small animal remains dating from c. AD 1630-1650. Among them were waste from the inhabitants’ meals (bones of cattle, mallard, perch, ruffe and a common cockle shell fragment), a tiny bone artefact, bones of common house mouse, common toad and moor frog, and exoskeleton fragments of six species of beetles. The house mice and larvae of the mealworm beetle, i.e. mealworms, will have caused a lot of nuisance to the Ubbena family. All the bones will have been dumped into the pit while cleaning the floor.